Why should you avoid second person perspective?
Answer
Here's what second person perspective is and how to avoid it in college writing:
Second person point-of-view means that you use the second-person pronoun you or your in your writing. This can sound informal to your audience, so it is often avoided in academic writing. (According to the Purdue OWL)
Example sentence: It seems to be the easiest way to meet people in your own community.
It is common to use “your” this way while speaking, but it since it is so imprecise, academic readers generally do not like it. A common strategy is to replace “you” or "your" with “one" as below:
Example sentence avoiding second person: It seems to be the easiest way to meet people in one’s own community.
If an informal writing assignment calls for direct instructions on how to do something, rather than describing or arguing for something, it is okay to use “you.”
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Comments (1)
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Thank you for the precise important advice.